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Govt fails to deliver on basics

A coalition of NGOs has claimed the government has failed to implement properly Public Service Law No. 25/2009.

Information collected by the coalition revealed more than 95 percent of public service institutions had failed to deliver the goods.

A national meeting attended by 160 participants from civil society groups as well as government representatives from 28 regencies and municipalities on Dec. 10-12 in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, found that a majority of both state and private institutions lacked measurable standards, complaints mechanisms or adequate service provision for marginal groups as mandated by the law.

The coalition, Community Concerned for Public Services (MP3), also blamed the House of Representatives for failing to oversee the implementation of the law.

“Article 35 of the law stipulates that the House, as the institution that enacted the law, has the authority to oversee its actual implementation. Sadly, the House only focuses on political issues such as the Bank Century scandal, general elections and so on,” said Desiana Samosi of the Indonesian Parliamentary Center (IPC).

The IPC is one of the NGOs in the MP3 coalition. Other members include Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), the Civil Society Alliance for Democracy (Yappika), the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) and The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta).

Francisca Fitri, the director of Yappika, blamed the lack of decent public services for the country’s increasing maternal and infant mortality rates. “According to the 2012 Indonesian Health and Demography Survey [SDKI], 228 out of every 100,000 mothers died in 2007, that figure climbed to 359 out of 100,000 in 2012. However, the target set for 2015 is 102. Most of them were poor people who lacked access to public services,” Francisca said.

She added that the figures for infant mortality amounted to 40 out of every 100,000 childbirths in 2012, up from 34 in 2007. “The target for 2015 is 23 out of every 100,000 births,” she said.

Against this dismal government performance, Desiana called on political parties contesting the 2014 general elections to establish programs to improve public services.

“Public services should become the priority of all political parties ahead of the 2014 election. A number of political parties already have programs related to the improvement of public services, but some have no programs at all.”